My favorite festival

FIRST PRIZE WINNER
Group 1 [Age 5-7 yrs]

Manogna Tatpudi- Plymouth, MN

My favorite festival

My  favorite festival is  Rakhi. Rakhi is about love and protection. On this day brothers and sisters  meet. Lord Indra and his team were having a war against demons.Indra ask Bruhaspati for a solution. Bruhaspati replied  “Tie a string on my hand while I am meditating”. Lord Indra did as he said on the booked date.Bruhaspati got power, Lord Indra team won by simple string he tied.Rakhi is a festival that belongs primarily to northern and western regions in India. But some  other Indians celebrate Rakhi.This story relates to yamaraj and Yamuna. Yamuna tied a rakhi  to Yamaraj. Yamaraj was so moved by the serenity that he declared that who ever gets tied from their sister and promises their protection would be mortal. This other story demon king Bali was a great devotee of lord Vishnu. Shree Vishnu was enchanted by his devotion and had up the task to guard his kingdom leaving his own abode in vaykutham. Lakshmi desired her lord to be back in his abode. She went to Bali disguised as a wife of a priest to seek until her husband came back. During the sravana poornima Lakshmi tied a rakhi to king Bali .Upon asked what she wanted she revealed who she was and why she was there. she came for. Having tied the thread on him, King felt obliged to help and requested Lord to accompany her. He sacrificed all he had for her and his devoted wife. This festival is also called that is Bali Raja’s devotion to the Lord. Since then, it has been a  tradition for brothers to invite shravan Poornima for the thread tying ceremony and offer them protection. The tradition, is,  sister on this day prepare the pooja thali with diya rongoli,rice and rakhi’s. They worship the god and tie to the brother, apply kumkum on their forehead and pray for their well being. The rakhi thread is a symbol of  love and affection of sister to their dearest brother.The brothers in turn give their gifts to their sisters and promise to be there with her all the times. This is the still put all siblings together. The festival Rakhi is about love and care between brothers and sisters. It is the way of expressing love for those there in dark days.